Shall we play a game? Advancing Artificial Intelligence through Play

South Korean Go master Lee Se-dol is now down 0-2 to Google DeepMind's AlphaGo which is on the verge of a milestone achievement in artificial intelligence. Master Se-dol has expressed surprise and amazement at the sophistication and skill of his virtual opponent. It has taken a long time to get here. Games have long been an attractive development tool for artificial intelligence researchers. In 1994, a computer program excelled at checkers and in 1997 it was chess.